Playing the Hero
by Silver-White Wings
Summary: It has been months since anyone has seen Train Heartnet. Where has he gone? Why hasn't he contacted his friends? How did he randomly appear after apparently vanishing off the face of the earth? And what's with all this god damn tree sap?  NO PAIRINGS
1. The Missing Cat

**Playing the Hero**

_**Chapter One – The Missing Cat**_

"_Do you think that we will ever see Train again?" said Eve, staring absently at the dashboard. Sven looked at her questioningly. "I never got to thank him for saving my life."_

"_Don't worry, Eve, I'm sure old Train will come around sooner or later," said Sven, grinning at her. "After all, a free stray cat always needs a doorstep to curl up on."_

Eve sighed, remembering these words as she stood outside the front gate of her school, waiting for Sven to come and pick her up. If his words from four months ago had been true, then hopefully Train would come around soon.

True, he was annoying and devoured every bit of food and milk in sight, but there was a noticeable lack of his loud, boisterous presence, and Eve _still_ hadn't thanked him for saving her. She wondered if Sven, Rinslet, or anyone else had heard from him since the fight against Eden. She would have to ask, because she knew for a fact that the only thing Train loved more than free milk was free food, which he could get from Sven and Eve, but he hadn't shown up for that, even.

Eve looked up as a car hurtled around the corner of the street and came to an abrupt stop in front of the school. The passenger-side door clicked open automatically as Eve approached it, and she climbed in eagerly, beaming at the green-haired man she was now face-to-face with, and who was beaming back at her, a lit cigarette between his teeth.

"Hey, Eve, how was school?" he asked, reaching over to close her door for her as she buckled herself in.

Eve shrugged, looking out of the window as the car started moving again. "Not bad."

"Oh, yeah?" Sven looked at Eve. She was usually more precise than "Not bad". She often said things like "Positively Chipper", "Dismally Informative", or even "Spectacularly Colourless". Obviously, something was wrong. "...Eve?" he asked cautiously.

Suddenly, she turned around and looked at him, her reddish-pink eyes full of curiosity. At least Sven thought it was curiosity, it was hard to tell. "Have you heard from Train at all?" she asked, failing at nonchalance. It was obvious she was worried, Train never passed up a chance for a free meal... or any kind of meal, really. Sven had to admit it to himself; he was starting to get worried, too. He was also fairly annoyed at Train for not at least letting them know how he was once in a while.

"No, I haven't, but I bet Kyoko'll know where he is. How about we call her when we get home?" he suggested comfortingly.

Eve nodded, and stayed silent for the rest of the car ride, remembering that she had an assignment due in the next day for Science, and wondering what the other students were doing for theirs.

Later that afternoon, Eve was kneeling on the carpet next to the coffee table, assembling a very complex-looking model of the Solar System. Sven was at Rinslet's place, a few streets down, and they were contacting everyone who might have any idea where Train was. So far, they'd had no luck. Not even Kyoko knew where on earth Train was, and she practically stalked him!

"Don't worry, Eve," Sven had said to her after calling Kyoko. "Train knows how to take care of himself... to a certain extent."

But the "certain extent" was that if Train had no money, he had no milk. And when he had no milk, he had no food. And when he had no food, he usually crawled to his friends for freebies. He _may_ have picked up a big bounty and been able to go on from there, but the Train that Eve knew wasn't very economically savvy. His main moral was to buy as much food as possible, hence spending practically all of his (and sometimes his friends') money at once

Eve completed the assembly of her model, and placed it carefully on the shelf where she kept her school things. She then picked up her book and settled herself on the couch to read while she waited for Sven to return. She wasn't sure she liked this book, it was called _Twilight, _and it was very unrealistic and sickly. Eve decided that she didn't think much of romance novels.

After a while, the sky began to grow dark, and Eve, fed up with swatting at mosquitoes, put down her book and crossed to the open window.

Just as she put her hand on the latch to pull it shut, she caught a whiff of a familiar smell; blood. It was salty and metallic, as always, but also had a strange hint of pine, and was vaguely familiar. However, the additional scent meant nothing. Someone nearby was badly wounded.

Eve gasped, and timidly sniffed the air to catch the scent again. It seemed to be coming from a few streets away, near Rinslet's place.

"Oh, no," she whispered, and, hoping for the best, slammed the window shut and ran towards the front door, grabbing her coat on the way out, and setting off down the street at a run, clumsily pulling on the coat as she went.

As she drew nearer to the horrible scent of blood, she slowed down, as to better sniff out the injured man, woman, child, or even animal, though Eve had a strong feeling that it was a man's blood she smelt. She finally located the place where the scent was the strongest; a small and dusty side-alley with two skips; one overflowing, and one overturned. The unusual smell of pine grew stronger as she drew nearer to the overturned skip, along with the overwhelming scent of blood, and now, a new scent. It was a bit like... milk? But that would mean...

"Train?"

Silence. Eve put her ear against the filthy metal, to be greeted with the sound of muffled, ragged breathing, and an even stronger pine smell (not to mention rotting fish and the kind of things you usually smell in a rubbish skip) now that she was this close. Sighing with relief, she pulled away from the skip and attempted to move it in any way she could, but it wouldn't budge.

Giving up, she turned and ran a few blocks down the road to Rinslet's place, knocking urgently on the door.

"Who is it?" came Rinslet's slightly annoyed voice.

"It is I, Eve," replied Eve.

Suddenly, the door was wrenched open to reveal Sven, who had evidently just shoved Rinslet, who looked very indignant, out of the way. "Eve! Is everything alright?" he said quickly.

"I have found Train," said Eve coolly

"...Train?" replied Sven meekly, as if he had never heard such a thing in his life. Rinslet looked confused.

"Yes. I have found him. This way." And with that, Eve grabbed Sven's hand and started dragging him down the street towards the alley.

"Hey! Wait up!" Rinslet cried, once again indignant.

Sven stumbled after Eve, wondering what the hell was going on. "Eve! Slow down! Where are we going?"

Suddenly, she stopped, causing Sven to almost smack into her.

"Eve... what are you... where are we...?" he panted, as Rinslet finally caught up with them.

"Train is under here," Eve said, rushing towards the overturned skip. "Quickly, we must get him out."

Sven and Rinslet exchanged looks of confusion. "How do you know he's there?" said Rinslet, as Sven stumbled towards Eve, dumbstruck.

"I smell blood, and milk, and..." Eve wondered whether or not she should tell them about the pine smell, "...and rotten fish."

"Fair enough," shrugged Rinslet, and rushed forwards to help lift the large skip.

Finally, after much lifting, pushing and complaining, the three of them managed to roll the heavy, metal rubbish disposal thingy onto its side, leaving a mountain of garbage bags in the middle of the already-crowded alley.

Eve sighed, and extended her hair into nano-hands to push them aside. She knew that Train must be at the bottom of the (literal) garbage pile.

"Oh, come on!" cried Rinslet. "How can Train not contact any of us for months, and then randomly appear underneath a pile of trash?"

Sven looked sideways at her, thinking along the same lines that she was, but knowing better than to question Eve. "Rinslet, go call an ambulance," he said, a minor, yet brilliant plan forming in his head.

"Why? Do you think he's that badly injured?" she replied, puzzled, but concerned.

Sven shrugged. "I have no idea. I just want to humiliate him for keeping us on the line for so long. He hates hospitals."

Rinslet rolled her eyes, but all the same left the alley to get help.

"Sven..." said Eve quietly, the minute Rinslet had disappeared down the street.

"Hm?" Sven turned around to face her. Her hair-hands were covered in scarlet blood, and she looked down at something which was hidden from Sven's view by garbage bags, her expression one of fear. "What's wrong?"He picked his way around the trash towards her, stepping in something wet as he did.

"...I have found Train."

Sven followed her line of sight to a large puddle of blood, part of which they were both standing in, and a dark mass sprawled across the center of it. Train's hair was matted and congealed with blood; his right arm appeared to be broken, and a chunk of flesh looked like it had been gouged out of his side.

Sven's cigarette fell into the puddle of sticky blood as his jaw dropped. He smacked his forehead with his palm "Damn it, Train!"

* * *

**A/N:** Hiya! This is my first Black Cat FanFic, and I'm not too sure about it. I'm cackling evilly on the inside about my plot, but it was a bit stiff writing this. Usually I do some warm-up fanfictions to get into the characters and stuff, since they aren't mine and I'm not entirely sure how to portray them for some situations, but I think I did okay. But my opinion doesn't matter too much, so I want YOUR feedback. So please, please click the review button and let me know what you think, and what I can do to improve.

Aside from that, if you like it, I'll probably be updating very soon, so let me know if you do!

Thanks in advance!

- Silver


	2. The Defeated Cat

**Playing the Hero**

_**Chapter Two – The Defeated Cat**_

The note did not say who it was from, yet Train knew who had sent it, anyway.

_Train Heartnet -_

_you are certainly an interesting specimen. you have defied Those who ought to have killed you, and survived injuries of which you surely should have Died from. it may Come as no surprise to you that i have An offer for you. I will be on pinefall street at nine pm – but that is all i shall say. let's see if you can sniff me out with those Extremely sharp cat-like senses of yours, shall we?_

_there's definitely something in it for you if you can, black cat._

Train glared at the note as he sat at his kitchen table, a bottle of milk in hand. The anon who had written it had no sense of proper capitalization at all, and they were really bad at hiding hidden messages, which are called _hidden messages _for a reason (not to mention, they had snuck into his house to plant the note). The capitalization trick was the oldest thing in the book of old things; way too easy.

But perhaps that was how she had planned it.

"Why do all evil people have to be so damn confusing!" Train exclaimed, slumping down in his chair and whacking his head on the table. "…Ow."

He lifted his head and pulled the note closer to himself. He also grabbed a pen and a memo-pad from a nearby, and wrote down the letters _T D C A I E_, and proceeded to write every anagram of the letters there was; _EAT DIC _seemed a bit rude and misspelled (though with the grammar in the note, maybe it was intentional?), _DAT ICE_ was a bit too gangster for the person of whom Train was dealing with, _AT DICE _didn't really make a lot of sense (unless there was a place called 'Dice'. A casino, perhaps?), and _DIE CAT _was extremely fitting.

"Die Cat?" Train looked at the note again. She had called him 'Black Cat', which led him to believe that this was the message intended, and that she was ordering Train to die. "How rude of her."

He swung back on two legs of his chair, taking a big gulp of milk. _So,_ he thought to himself,_ she wants me to meet her on Pinefall Street… Pinefall Street… that's where Rinslet lives… near Sven and the Princess..._

He pushed away from the table and drained the last of his milk, tossing the bottle into the sink as he passed it onto the small balcony. He leaned against the railing and looked down at the lit-up town that lay at the foot of the mountain. _So that's her plan; to get me out of the way by killing me. Seems fairly solid, but I can see a flaw…_

Later that night, at quarter to nine, Train walked silently across the roofs of the houses of Pinefall Street. He sniffed the air carefully. He could smell it; the distinct smell of pine that had nothing to do with the name of the road. He followed the scent over more rooftops, until he was standing before a gap in the houses; A small alleyway. Train's nostrils were now filled with the smell of rotting garbage, in addition to the extremely pungent pine aroma. He could have easily jumped the gap, but there was no need to, he had found her.

"Why, Black Cat, you are early," said a pleasant voice behind him. Train spun around to face whoever it belonged to. The speaker seemed to be not much older than he was; her figure was boyish and muscular, and her flaming hair was short and spiky. Everything about her seemed sharp, from her pointed chin to the clawed gloves she wore. The claws looked formidable; they were long (reaching down to her knees from a normal standing position) and curved, like fingernails, but they were also deadly sharp, and made from black metal.

"Fancy meeting you here," Train said sarcastically, "Kichiko."

Kichiko's clawed fingers twitched, and she took a step towards him. "I have a message to deliver," she said calmly, the pleasant tone still present. "Though you may already know what it is."

"Is it the one about the ice or the dice or the ingestion of a very inappropriate object?"

She chuckled. "So close…"In a swift movement, she raised her arm, so that her black metal claws were less than a centimeter away from Train's face. "...But no cigar."

With her other hand, she aimed for Train's stomach, but Train was too fast. He pulled out his Hades and blocked the attack. "That's okay; I don't smoke." She then tried to get him with her first hand, but he jumped backwards, flipping in midair and landing, cat-like, on the balls of his feet in the alleyway. Kichiko jumped after him, aiming to attack from above with a criss-crossing slash, but Train, once again, blocked the attack. Kichiko glared at him, trying to push past his gun while he tried to push against her claws.

"Oh, now I get it," said Train, "The message was actually the one that said 'Die Cat', am I right?"

"Quite," growled Kichiko, all traces of pleasantness gone from her voice, which was now a gravelly growl. "You're a challenging opponent, as always, Heartnet. I may need to utilize my… 'Special' powers, if I want to kill you!"

Train's eyes widened and he pushed hard against her blades, breaking two of them and knocking her back. "...Powers? What are you talking about?" he demanded.

"Hmm, let me show you," cackled Kichiko, raising both of her arms. Behind her, a clear, thick liquid with a yellowish tinge rose out of thin air. The smell of pine now completely enveloped every other smell in the alleyway.

"Tao...?" Train gasped. Kichiko laughed, and flicked her hand. The pine sap hardened into a block, then shattered into sharp, glass-like shards, and shot towards Train like bullets. Using Hades, he managed to block most of them, but a few grazed his arms, and one scraped across the top of his head.

"You really _are_ skilled," snarled the Taoist, lunging at Train again. This time, he side-stepped to avoid her, raising his gun and shooting her in the back of the knee as she passed. She spun around again, blood flying from the hole in her leg. Train raised his Hades again and pointed it at her face.

"Give up, Kichiko. You're not getting the better of me," he growled. However, Kichiko smiled.

"Is that so?" she said softly. The smell of pine sap filled Train's nostrils again, as the thick liquid crawled up her arms and legs, until she was completely encased in it, and the hole in her leg was gone. When she spoke, her voice was slightly muffled; "Go ahead, pull the trigger, it'll just rebound off anyway."

"Damn it!" grunted a frustrated Train. "You're annoying!"

"So are you," she cooed, then thrust her hand forwards; a largeblob of sap shot towards him, hitting his right arm, pulling it back and sticking it to the skip behind him. The sap hardened, making it almost impossible for him to move his arm. He caught Hades in his left as it fell from his slackened hand. He tried to pull away from the sap-case, but to no avail.

"You're in a right _bind_ now, aren't you, Black Cat?"

Train glared at Kichiko, wiping a trickle of blood from his forehead. She merely sneered, and, with her eight remaining claws, lunged for his stomach once more. He tried to avoid it, but his arm made it difficult to move at all. He moved sideways enough for her to miss the vital parts, but she still managed to pierce four black clawsinto the flesh of his waist. Train gasped in pain, and Kichiko cackled as if she was thoroughly enjoying the sight of his blood spattering the pavement as she pulled her hand sideways, pulling the fabric and flesh away from his body, leaving four deep grooves on his side, as if they had been scooped out by a very sharp proverbial spoon.

"_Aargh!" _he yelped, gritting his teeth and clenching his left fist around Hades. Shakily, he rose his gun and swung for Kichiko's head. Caught off guard, she was unable to stop him with her sap, and she staggered backwards. While she was distracted, Train pulled hard against the hardened sap that bound his right arm, but instantly stopped when a sickening crack met his ears as his arm broke. "Far out," he growled under his breath, raising Hades once more and pulling the trigger.

The bullet shattered the shell of sap, and he pulled his arm into his body. He fell to his knees, losing blood fast, and looked up, panting, to see Kichiko healing whatever wound he had made on her head, and watching him with malice.

"I think it's time I finished you off," she growled, pointing at Train. A rope of sap flew out at him, but changed direction before it hit, and clung onto the giant skip behind him instead. She pulled on the rope, which subsequently caused the skip to topple over, and Train was caught in a landslide of rotting garbage (which would be a garbage-slide, not a landslide). He quickly raised Hades and shot the remaining four bullets at her, before he was buried in the foul-smelling trash.

Kichiko scowled at the bullet in her shoulder, before summoning some pine sap to heal it for her. Her flesh regrew from underneath, pushing out the empty bullet, which fell with a chink to the ground. She then looked at the mountain of rubbish bags before her, and cackled with exhilaration.

"That actually hurt a bit. Well, I'd better clean up a bit, right, Train?" she laughed, as the sap lifted the skip and placed it over the top of the mound, and lifted the excess bags into the full skip beside it, causing it to overflow. "Farewell, then, Black Cat!" she cackled one more time, before she leapt back up onto the roof, and was gone.

Train tried to get the headache-inducing sound of Kichiko's ringing laughter out of his ears, as he also tried to hold his arm so it wouldn't hurt so much, and keep any of the trash from touching his raw and bleeding flesh. Not to mention trying not to breathe in the horrible smell of what seemed to be rotting fish right by his head.

He grunted in pain, trying to think of a way to get out of this extremely compromising situation. Was it possible that he was going to die of blood loss, under a mountain of trash in an alleyway? The idea wasn't a nice one, but at that moment, Train could see no other conclusion.

He then became aware of running footsteps approaching the alleyway, growing louder by the second. Was it someone who could help? Should he call out to them?

No. First of all, Train wasn't sure he had enough strength. Second of all, he didn't want to get a mouthful of last year's leftovers and/or his own blood. The footsteps suddenly stopped, then restarted again, at a walking pace, coming closer...

"Train?"

Train could only just hear the little voice calling out for him. _...Princess? _he thought to himself, _How did you—Oh, that's right, she can smell blood from a mile away, and she's smelt my blood often enough to be able to recognise it... not to mention the fact that I drank about five bottles of milk on the way here..._

The footsteps retreated again, and Train felt his remaining strength draining from his body. He closed his eyes, and felt the weight of the trash lifted from him, and the foul combined odours of rotting, pine sap, and blood all disappear, along with the pain. He felt warm and comfortable, which was a sudden change he had not been counting on.

He opened his eyes again, and blinked a few times. He was staring at a white ceiling, and appeared to be in a... bed? He closed his eyes from the brightness. His head was starting to throb, and his arm and side felt stiff. _Where am I? And why?_

He heard a door creak open, and he opened one eye. He then heard a stifled gasp and sigh, and an unfamiliar and slightly distant voice distinctly say, "He's awake."

* * *

**A/N: **Yay! I did it! A new chapter!

I'm really enjoying writing this. I might be channelling Train's spirit (and I'm not saying that I portrayed him well; I'm unsure about how I did), also, because I haven't drank anything but milk for three days. I know, I need help. It seems to inspire me, though. I also wrote half of this in a tree. ^^

Review Replies (because all the cool kids are doing it):

**Jujulapetoch**: I'm glad you think so! hope this chapter was satisfying ^^

**DarkAngel555:** I'm glad you like it! It is a bit stiff, writing Eve. I think I'm a bit _too_ careful with her speech, because I know she always speaks properly, and generally isn't very colloquial. I'm happy to have captured your interest, and I hope that this keeps it ^^

Now I feel satisfied. Dunno why. I'm not sure when I'll be able to update again ("Rawr," said the School-Monster), but hopefully it's not too long, I'm thoroughly enjoying the writing of this, as I said before. ^^

Don't forget to review if you liked it or have some advice/criticism! Thanks for reading!

- Silver


	3. The Lying Cat

**Playing the Hero**

_**Chapter 3 – The Lying Cat**_

"He's awake," said the unfamiliar voice, which was deep and gravelly.

"Hm?" said a far more familiar voice. "Really?"

Train sat up slowly, causing his side to twinge, putting a hand to his head. There were thick bandages wrapped around it, and his hair felt lank and greasy. In addition, the hand that wasn't at his head was hanging limply in a sling, feeling extremely weak.

The door opened again, and a certain green-haired man sauntered in.

"…Sven?" gasped Train disbelievingly. He would have pinched himself if he wasn't already in quite a lot of pain.

Sven held up a hand in greeting, pulling up a chair and sitting down next to Train. "Yo."

"Where…?" Train started, looking around at the very boring white room. "Where am I?"

"The Hospital…" said Sven, smirking at him.

"The Hospital… right… wait, _what!"_

"…Of an underground doctor." He finished, fighting back a laugh.

Train sank back down onto his pillows. "You're annoying."

"Not as annoying as you," accused Sven, but then looked at Train, a somewhat concerned look on his face. "Really, though, you scared the hell out of us."

Train closed his eyes, bringing his free hand up and resting his head on it. "How long was I out?"

"Three days. I wouldn't say it's not your worst, though. The week after the tanker explosion was because the injuries to your head were worse," Sven explained, looking carefully at Train.

Train winced very slightly at the bitter upsurge of memories, but added "Not to mention the traumatic stress part of it."

"That's a big word for you," Sven remarked under his breath, but Train, pretending not to hear, continued.

"So, anyway, what happened?" he said opening his eyes again, and turning his head lightly to look at Sven, who shifted his weight.

"Well, it was irony, really. Me and Eve were talking about how we hadn't seen you since the battle with Eden, so Rinslet and I tried to get some leads as to your location while Eve stayed home and did her homework. Then suddenly Eve was at Rinslet's door claiming to have found you, and half-dragging us to some alleyway with an overturned skip and a terrible smell."

Train's eyes narrowed slightly, as he remembered hearing Eve's voice saying his name, then her footsteps running away, obviously to get Sven, as he realised now.

"So we dug you out of this _huge_ pile of garbage, and I told Rinslet to go phone an ambulance, but she called an underground doctor instead, which was probably lucky, really. Imagine explaining all of this to a _normal_ hospital! You were a mess, man. You lost a lot of blood, too. We were worried you wouldn't make it…" Sven trailed off, looking seriously at Train, who, despite asking, was hardly listening.

"Hey, where is the Princess anyway?" he said perkily.

Sven fought the urge to whack him upside the head. "At school. It's eleven AM. She's been really worried about you, you know."

Train grinned infuriatingly. "Aw, how cute! She was worried! And I see you got her to go to school, then." he chuckled. Sven smacked his forehead with his palm.

"Yeah… whatever. It's your turn to start speaking now anyway," he said, swinging back on two legs of his chair.

Train sat up a little, propping himself up on the pillow. "What do you mean?"

"Well, first of all you have to tell me where you've been all this-" Sven started, but was interrupted by Train letting out a very huge, very loud, and _very_ fake yawn.

"Oh, wow, I'd _love_ to chat for a while, but I'm just _sooo_ _tired_!" he exclaimed, a bit too enthusiastically. "You know what? Since I'm so badly _injured_ and stuff, a nice glass of milk and some rest will help me heal up _nicely_, don't you think?"

Sven glared at him indignantly, but got up to get him a glass of milk, all the same.

Train sighed with relief as soon as the door swung shut. He didn't know why, exactly, but he really didn't want Sven and Eve to know his true reasoning behind not contacting them for so long. He would have to tell them eventually though. Or… he could make something up. Yeah, that was a good idea. Hopefully, Kichiko believed him to be dead, and wouldn't track him down again, so maybe he could go back to sweeping with Sven?

No. If Train so much as went out in public, she would be able to find him, because she's just creepy like that.

Sven came back in with Train's glass of milk, which he gulped down gratefully. Sven looked at him apprehensively, standing in the doorway. Train looked up at him, grinning slightly.

"Thanks!"

Sven half-smiled back at him. "Whatever's going on, Train, try not to get yourself killed."

And with that, he left the room, closing the door behind him. Train furrowed his brow guiltily, but lay back on his pillows, yawning genuinely this time, and within a few minutes, he was in a slightly uneasy sleep.

He awoke to a sharp pain in his broken arm, and found that he was lying on top of it. Mumbling under his breath about needing some milk (as always), he rolled onto his back, sat up, looked around, and almost fell out of bed with surprise of the little, pink-eyed face that appeared in front of his own.

"Princess!" he exclaimed, after calming himself slightly. "What are you doing here?"

He looked around a bit more. It was darker now, and the white curtains were drawn over the solitary window, and the lights turned on.

"I brought you some milk," she said, holding out a glass of the blessed white liquid.

Train's expression automatically lit up. "Thanks, Princess!" He downed the glass in one, then looked at Eve properly for the first time in months. She looked very different; her hair was a lot shorter, only down to her shoulders, and she was taller and looked a little more mature. Not that she didn't always look mature... "Phew, you've changed."

"And you have not," Eve replied, raising an eyebrow. "Not one bit."

Train laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of his bandaged head. "Heh... probably not! So, Sven told me you go to school now. What's it like?"

Eve looked at him somewhat sceptically. "Is your memory _that_ bad? Don't you remember?"

Train grimaced. "Put it this way; you don't exactly have much time to go to school when you're being trained to be an assassin."

Eve nodded slowly. "So you never went to school?"

"Nope! Not high school, at least."

Eve's eyes narrowed. Come to think of it, she didn't know a great lot about Train's Past. However, Train was, and always would be, Train. "That explains a lot."

"Sure does- wait, what are you suggesting!" Train exclaimed indignantly.

"That you are an idiot."

"I'm no idiot! I'm a highly intelligent human bean!"

"I believe the word is 'being', not 'bean'."

"It's the same thing!"

"It is far from the same thing."

"Okay, fine, I'll admit it. You and me are on roughly the same level of intelligence."

"It's 'you and I," not 'you and me'."

"What's that got to- actually, no, I give up. You're impossible, Princess!" Train groaned, sinking down into his pillows.

"Ironically, I find you even more impossible," speculated Eve.

Train grumbled frustratedly, and rubbed his forehead. "Now I have a headache..."

Eve frowned. "Train..." she paused, unsure of how to word the following sentence. She wanted an answer, but she didn't want to seem to Train as if she was as worried as she really was. That was the number one rule with Train; never show weakness. "Train, why do we always find you covered in blood somewhere?"

Train didn't answer, but sighed quietly and looked away.

"What I mean to say," Eve persisted, "Is what happened in that alleyway?"

Train sighed again. He had expected _this_ question, too. If he were to tell them, how exactly would he say it? But that didn't matter; he had already decided that he was not, under any circumstance, going to tell them what had happened in the alley with Kichiko. Once again, he yawned loudly. "Oh, Princess, after that argument, I'm too tired to tell you. Maybe later."

Eve's eyes narrowed again. "Train, I am being serious. What happened in that alleyway that wounded you so badly?"

Train turned and looked at her. She was staring at him crossly, her eyes filled with a stubborn intensity. He closed his eyes and leaned back on the pillow. "Alright, fine, I'll tell you," he sighed. "I don't know."

Eve blinked. "You don't know what?"

"I don't know what happened. The last thing I remember is buying a bottle of milk from the corner shop," Train lied spectacularly, not opening his eyes or moving at all, in case he gave away the fact that he was lying. In truth, he felt bad lying to Eve, since she did nothing but banter with and care for him.

Eve sighed with momentary defeat. "Alright," she sighed. "I will let you get some rest."

"Night, Princess. Say hi to Sven for me," Train called after her as she left the room.

"Goodnight," Eve nodded, closing the door behind her.

_What are you hiding, Train? _she thought to herself, _why don't you want us to know?_ Eve knew for a fact that Train's head injuries were minor; nothing bad enough to cause amnesia. So why was he so insistent on keeping what really happened to himself?

"How is he?" asked Sven, as Eve entered the main reception area; the lounge of the doctor's home. Sven was sitting on a sofa across from the doctor.

"Annoying," Eve admitted truthfully. "He refuses to tell the truth about what happened, I can tell."

Sven frowned "Odd. He wouldn't tell me where he's been all this time either."

"Why would he do that?" inquired the doctor, sipping his tea.

"A number of reasons. Sometimes, Train is completely predictable, and other times, I don't understand him at all," explained Sven.

"I can't understand him whenever he opens his mouth," mumbled Eve.

"Hmm... he shouldn't have lost his memories. The main problem was blood loss; he sustained no damage to his brain or major arteries," said the doctor, Doctor Wilson.

"That is exactly why it makes no sense that Train is claiming to not remember what happened," said Eve, in a slightly frustrated tone.

It was silent for a few minutes. Then, "Anyway, we'd better get home, Eve. You've got school tomorrow."

She nodded silently, and they bid goodbye to Doctor Wilson, before leaving for their apartment.

On the car ride home, Eve stared moodily out the window, unable to grasp what Train might be hiding, and _why!_ Sven noticed her annoyed expression while rummaging around in the centre console for a lighter.

"Why did you let him get away with lying, anyway? It's not like you," he said, closing the centre console lid and searching through the glove box.

"He is injured; I do not want to make it worse for him, despite how annoying he is," Eve explained, frustration evident in her voice. "What I do not understand is _why _he would lie to us."

"Maybe he's just so humiliated by what happened, and he doesn't want us laughing at him?" Sven suggested, because it was highly likely.

"You're probably right," Eve agreed, "but why won't he tell us where he's been for the past few months?"

Sven grimaced, giving up on the search for a lighter entirely. "That, I don't know. There's definitely something fishy going on, isn't there?"

Eve nodded, staring sullenly out of the window again. "I just wish I knew _what_."

Glancing sideways at the frustrated Eve, Sven frowned with concern. "Look, don't worry about it too much. If we pester him enough, Train will tell us eventually, right?" he said optimistically. "He's annoyed too easily; that's the thing with annoying people!"

"Yeah..." Eve smiled lightly. "Alright then."

Over the next couple of weeks, Eve and Sven took it in turns to interrogate Train. Train, being the super skilled person that he is, grew wise to these visits, and pretended to be asleep whenever Sven or Eve visited. Skill, Train. Skill.

"He's not a bad actor, really," Eve commented bitterly one night, after she and Sven had figured out that he was faking – no one slept twenty four hours a day, not even Train, who generally slept for 14 hours and ate for the other 10.

"He's healing fast, though. He'll have no excuse, soon. Either that, or we should catch him off guard," Sven speculated, putting his feet up on the coffee table and taking a puff from his cigarette.

"But how do we do that?" asked Eve hopelessly.

Sven grinned. "Oh, come on, Eve. While he's eating, of course!"

And so, the next day, while Train sat and scarfed down his lunch, Eve suddenly trotted into the makeshift hospital ward, and sat down, staring intently at Train.

"Hello, Train," she said cheerfully. Train blinked at her.

_Crap,_ he thought. _They figured it out!_ "...Hi, Princess."

Her face suddenly turned serious. "I bet you know why I'm here."

He sighed, and closed his eyes, placing his fork down on the food tray. "Yes."

"So?"

He didn't say anything at first. _Come on, Train, come up with something, quick! _"I..." he started sadly.

"Yes?" said Eve eagerly.

Train looked down. "I guess that... since Creed's no longer a threat, I just wanted to remember Saya in peace... and not be a burden to you and Sven. I can look after myself, believe it or not," he lied, a shameful feeling growing in his gut.

Eve frowned. She knew she wasn't going to get anything more than this, but she didn't know whether to believe it or not; it was too cheesy and thoughtful for Train, but... She decided to leave it for a while, and perhaps resume the chase later. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Huh? Oh, fine. Healing up nicely," Train said proudly. "Should be out of here soon!"

Eve smiled. "That's good."

After a little more chat and a small argument, Eve left, leaving Train feeling guilty. He hated lying to his friends, especially after they'd just saved his life. He had to do something about it, but there wasn't much he could do for a few more days.

"Just a little longer..." he told himself, "just a little more strength..."

Sven thought of Train's answer as strange, too, and was almost convinced that he was lying to throw them off his trail. "We should try again tomorrow, and not leave until he tells the truth!" he suggested. "This is getting annoying!"

"Exactly," said Eve, "it's getting annoying. Don't you think we should give it a rest for a while? It's like you said; Train will tell us eventually."

Sven frowned. "Yeah, I guess."

Over the next few days, Train started rebuilding his strength, much to the disapproval of Doctor Wilson, who somewhat reluctantly agreed to discharge him at the end of the week. Eve and Sven visited regularly, sometimes with Rinslet, and Kyoko appeared the day before Train could leave and annoyed the hell out of him. No one, however, pestered him about details anymore, and Train was beyond grateful for that, but knew it wouldn't last long.

On Sunday morning, Train woke early to a ray of weak sunlight filtering in through a gap in the curtains. Train silently got out of bed and pulled them apart, looking out at the town, three floors below him.

"Sorry, guys."

Meanwhile, Eve awoke feeling slightly uneasy. She had the feeling that something was going to go wrong today, but she didn't know what it was, or why. Her uneasiness made Sven feel uneasy, and it was silent the whole time they were in the car driving to Doctor Wilson's house.

When they finally reached the underground doctor's makeshift hospital, Eve was certain that something wasn't right, and practically ran to Train's room. Sven followed behind her, slightly nervous of her behaviour.

"Gone," said Eve, as Sven caught up to her at last. She was standing in the doorway of Train's room, staring at the vacant bed. She raised a finger to point at the open window, which was letting in a strong breeze that blew the curtains around everywhere. "He's gone."

Sven turned and smashed his head against the wall.

* * *

**A/N:** Well, that took longer than it should have.

I has reasoning, however. During the week my time is generally devoted to school/study/relaxation otherwise I go insane for real. I would have gotten this up last weekend, but I was off on music camp, which was, BTW, epic. I tried to write during the week, but I had a bit of a block, and this is actually the third rewrite. Yes, the third. The first time was before I went to music camp, and I didn't like it and rewrote it after I got back from music camp, then I added a little more during the week, but I really couldn't think. Yesterday, I decided I _had_ to finish it, and wrote out a detailed plan of the chapter. That helped a great deal. Only, I was writing this version last night, and decided to watch an episode of Death Note for a break. Big mistake, I got hooked and didn't get back to writing until about midday today. Oh well. It's finished now, and it's the longest chapter, but I can't help but feel it's a bit rushed. Ack.

Thank you to all the people who have reviewed! It makes me so damn happy to see that "_reviews"_ button next to my story :]

**DarkAngel555 - **Argh, I know, right? I tried to get her right in the middle in this, since she was in it quite a bit. Dunno how I did, though. I love Eve, but she's so difficult! And thanks! I actually write a lot late at night, where I'm partially delirious, and get a lot of mental ideas. That's not altogether a good thing, though...

**Jamian The Professor -** Lol! Don't worry, I'll finish it! xD Hopefully this chapter was satisfying, though it doesn't explain a lot. I made it that way for a reason :3

**Izzi89 -** Thanks! It's not often someone compliments my writing style ^^ Have you started writing your own Black Cat fanfic yet...?

**trainsgirl13** - I'm glad to hear that! I was gonna have him wake up in a normal hospital, but I figured that would be a bit awkward to write, so I made up a random Doctor Wilson, who will probably never appear again. xD

**Otakugirl 13** - Good to know that it's interesting... I always worry about whether my stories are or not. Thanks!

Feel free to review *hint hint* and ask me questions about things you want explained a bit more. I will answer it if it's not going to give away too much of my plot ^^

- Silver


	4. The Cat and the Stalker

**Playing the Hero**

_**Chapter Four – The Cat and the Stalker**_

The afternoon that followed the morning that Train disappeared (again), was not exactly a pleasant one. Eve sat moodily on the windowsill, glaring out at the mountains surrounding the town. Sven was slumped on the couch, his feet up on the coffee table and a strong coffee in hand. Rinslet stood in front of the two, looking thoroughly put out.

"I really don't get that guy," she grumbled. "He goes ahead and proves that he literally can't survive without you guys taking care of him, and then he just ups and goes without a word?"

Sven sighed. "It's not the first time he's done it, so we shouldn't be too surprised."

"Well you got that right! But why now? The Train I know doesn't give up an opportunity to be looked after!"

Eve shifted slightly. "I find it obvious;" she said simply, "he doesn't want us finding out about where he's been, or what's happened, no matter what."

"Well that's reasonable, but I just don't get _why!_" Rinslet sighed, throwing herself down onto the couch next to Sven.

"Okay, so now we've established that Train is the most annoying being on the planet. What are we gonna do about it?" he questioned the room at large.

"And he thinks he's a bean…" added Eve. "He said so himself."

Rinslet blinked. "Well, I'd say do nothing if this was any other scenario…"

"But given the fact that he's keeping something from us, you're curious, right?"

"Well, yeah. And kinda worried, too. I mean, what if he gets himself into a mess again and no one's there to save him?"

"Then he dies."

"Exactly."

Eve sighed and slid down from the windowsill. "Well, now we have two things to worry about," she complained quietly.

"Two things…?" said Sven blankly, looking at Rinslet, who shrugged.

"One; Train. Two; Dinner," she explained, as if it were obvious, and exited into the kitchen.

Sven blinked. "You know, I think Train's rubbed off her."

Rinslet nodded mutely.

Meanwhile, on the streets outside, a group of teenage girls walked past, giggling and gossiping. Among them, was a certain Kyoko Kirisaki, who hung back a bit from her friends, thinking.

Earlier that day, she had been looking for her little black cat, when she had seen the bigger, human black cat scaling up a nearby mountain to what looked like a large cave on the side of the large wall of rock. Ever since then, she had been debating following him or not. After all, he was supposed to be in hospital… wasn't he?

She stopped, letting her friends walk ahead. They quickly noticed she had stopped, and slowed down for her.

"…Kyoko?" one of them asked.

"Hey, you guys go ahead. I've… got something I need to do. Kay?" she said brightly.

They shrugged. "Alright. How about we meet up at the mall in twenty minutes?"

"Hmm, dunno. I'll call you!" Kyoko replied, waving her cellphone in front of her. "See-ya!"

And with that, she flounced off in the opposite direction. After about ten minutes, she reached the spot she had seen Train from, and searched for the cave on the rock face. She found it, and started looking for a way to get up the mountain.

"Ooh, I wish I could climb as well as my Kuro-Sama can!" she whined, looking up at the cave hopelessly. Suddenly, a potentially brilliant but also very stupid idea came into existence in her usually Train-filled mind. "Ooh! If I cause a powerful spurt of fire out of the bottom of my feet then I can rocket up there!" she clapped her hands, jumping up and down, then positioned herself to properly propel herself up to the cave.

She concentrated all of her power into her feet until it came bursting out, and she went shooting up wards.

"EEEEEEEEEK!" she screamed, not altogether expecting the high speed she was going at. She flew through the air, screaming for her life, until she landed hard on the thin ledge in front of the cave. "Oof!"

She gingerly sat up, rubbing her head. "I guess I didn't consider the landing…" she giggled weakly, before getting up and peering into the cave. It seemed to be a long, winding tunnel. Wondering why her Kuro-Sama would come up here, she pouted, and set off along it, ignoring her (more than) slightly burnt shoes.

On the other side of the tunnel in his hidden mountainside hideout, Train looked up as a shrill, yet distant scream pierced the air. An unpleasantly familiar scream…

"Ugh, whatever," groaned the worn-out and therefore irritable stray, who was carefully redressing the wound on his torso. The bandages were annoying, sure, but it was still quite painful and open to an infection, and that was the last thing he needed; another trip to the hospital.

He felt bad leaving Sven and Eve behind without a word like that, but this was for their own good.

_But is it, really?_

Train sighed. It hardly mattered, either way; he'd already made his decision and he would stick to that choice. In any case, his first task was to heal up. The next; to find a new hideout. Kichiko was bound to be looking for him by now, and the first place she would check would be the alley, then after seeing no evidence of Train's death (other than perhaps blood stains), she would head for this hideout, because for some reason she knew where it was. She was, in a sense, his stalker. And that was mainly why Train didn't like her.

He tied the end of the bandage and straightened up, making sure he had enough mobility. All was fine, so he roughly shoved his thoroughly worn-out medical supplies back into the cupboard from which they came. He turned to walk out of the room, but froze when he was halfway through the door. He could hear the crunch of gravel outside. Someone was approaching the house. Was it… Kichiko? No, it couldn't be, she wouldn't be making noise by walking on the gravel and calling out "Mister Blaaaaack! Are you here?"

Wait… what!

Train immediately sped quietly into the front room and made a small gap in the metal bars of the blinds, and pressed his eye to said gap.

It definitely was _not_ Kichiko. It was Kyoko Kirisaki, who was just as (if not, more than) annoying as the former. And also a stalker. This brought Train's total (known) stalker count up to two.

_Why didn't I consider the fact that someone _else_ might find me? How _did _she find me anyway! _thought Train as he looked for a place to hide. _She can't know that I'm here otherwise she'll _never _leave!_ He paused as he passed the bedroom, and looked inside. The only reasonable place to hide in there would be in the closet, as the bed was just a mattress on the floor. The only other reasonable place he had found in the whole house was a inside large vase, under the sink where there was actually a pipe leakage that he seriously needed to get fixed, and over the side of the balcony, which really couldn't end well.

The sound of the doorbell rang through the house as Kyoko drew closer to closing in on Train. "Helloooo? Mister Black?"

_There's no other option! _Train screamed in his head, and quickly dove into the messy closet, quickly pulling the door shut behind him.

So now he was sitting amongst a pile of clothes that he hadn't bothered to hang up properly. He felt a slight movement near his foot, and looked over to see a mouse run for the gap under the door. Train let it run free, considering he was in a rather awkward position, his right arm, twisted underneath him was throbbing slightly, considering it was not yet completely healed, and his legs were curled right up to his chest, since it wasn't exactly a walk-in wardrobe.

Outside, Kyoko continued to ring the doorbell, wondering if her Kuro-Sama was somewhere where he couldn't hear. Or maybe he was too weak and injured and tired to come to the door!

"Don't worry, Mister Black! I'll come take care of you!" she cried, upon coming to this ridiculous conclusion (because she never considers the fact that Train finds her annoying), and tried the door to see if it was unlocked. Unfortunately for Train, it was. Kyoko skipped over the threshold and started searching everywhere for Train – _everywhere._

_I have to get out of here… if she finds me she's not gonna leave for hours..._

He put his hand on the door in order to push it open, but somehow found himself mentally unable to face the prospect of coming out of the closet. He'd usually avoided hiding in closets for this very reason.

_Come on, Train, be a man, just get out of the damn closet! Oh… crap… it'll make me less of a man if I do!_

Just as Train was about ready to drill a hole in the wall to avoid having to technically leave the closet, the door was pulled open by a rather upset Kyoko, whose expression turned ecstatic the moment she saw Train, and then confused.

"Umm, Mister Black? What are you doing in the closet?"

_Crap._

"I was, erm… looking for my shoes!" he laughed nervously.

"But you're wearing them, silly!" giggled the obnoxiously annoying teenage girl.

"Oh-ho… really? That's why I couldn't find them! Heh…"

And so, half an hour later, the cat and his number one stalker for mostly innocent reasons (because no one wants to know what does on in that head of hers) were both seated at his kitchen table, glasses of milk in front of them.

"So… you live up here all by yourself now?" enquired the ever-nosy Kyoko. "I always thought of you as a team player, but I totally dig the independent type!"

Train mentally kicked himself. "Heh, yeah, well, I once had a dream about a girl who lived completely isolated in the mountains… I guess I liked the idea of such a lifestyle…" he explained.

Kyoko nodded. "Cool! Do you think _I_ would suit the mountain lifestyle?"

"No."

"But—"

"How did you even find me, anyway?" Train interrupted before she could get too indignant. Her slightly pouty expression instantly turned happy again.

"Oh! That's easy! I saw you scaling up the mountain!"

Train mentally kicked himself again. He'd used the back way as to avoid detection rather than taking the front driveway. Obviously, this hadn't worked. Considering that the back entrance faced the town, it seemed kind of obvious that someone would have noticed him. But really, off _all_ people to find him, it _had _to be Kyoko Kirisaki, his longtime obsessing fangirl and stalker.

_I really need to find a new hideout..._

But first of all, operation; get rid of Kyoko.

"Listen, Kyoko, I don't wanna be rude, but I really need to get some rest. You know, so that I can heal up completely," he said, playing the 'I'm-injured-leave-me-alone' defence.

Kyoko frowned. "I understand, I guess I'll have to..." Train let out a sigh of relief. "...have to stay and look after you until you get better!"

Train fell backwards off his chair.

That night, Eve sat at her desk, studying for an essay she had coming up. She was still bitter about Train having disappeared so randomly, but there was really nothing she could do about it. She wondered if she regretted saving his life, just to have him run off again...

She froze. Of _course_ she didn't regret saving him. He was like an extremely annoying younger (in terms of maturity) brother to her, and as annoying and ignorant as he may be at times, she still cared, because Eve is just nice like that.

"I suppose... I just want some gratitude," she sighed to herself. "Then again..." She closed her books and sat back in her chair. "...This makes us almost even."

She stood up and walked out to the living room, flicking the switch for the computer as she sat down in the desk chair. She'd heard of a new social networking site from people at school (mostly Kyoko) called 'Bookface'. It had sounded interesting, so she'd gotten an account, and discovered that it was quite addictive. And so today, she logged in and scrolled down the home page, looking at all the posts people had made. None looked particularly interesting, but there was one that caught her eye very much indeed.

_**Kyoko Kirisaki **__has just been to visit Kuro-Sama! I found him, lol! :D xoxoxox_

Eve froze. If Kyoko was telling the truth (which she probably wasn't), then she and Sven would be able to find Train if they asked where he was. Assuming that he was still in the same place, that is.

"Sven!" Eve leapt up and ran into the kitchen where Sven was sitting at a table looking at bounty posters.

"Hm? What's up, Eve?" he said, his pronunciation constricted slightly by the fact that he had a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

"Apparently Kyoko knows where Train is. Should we call her?"

"What! How does she-? How do you-?" Sven spluttered.

"She said that in a recent Bookface status that she has been to visit Train," Eve explained, then suddenly thought of something. "Hold on a second!"

She dashed back to the computer and clicked on the chat box. She scrolled through the list of names, found Kyoko's, and clicked on it.

"I can ask her online," Eve told Sven, who had followed her to the computer.

_Kyoko, do you really know where Train is?_ Eve typed in, and pressed enter to send the message to Kyoko. A second later, Kyoko replied with _OMG hi Eve xxx! Yah! I found Kuro-Sama up in the mountains!_

"In the mountains...?" said Sven quietly, as Eve typed her reply.

_Can you tell me how to get there?_  
_Yah, sure! If you go around the back of the mountains there's a driveway that goes straight there. It's easiest if you take the mountain pass then turn left on the other side!_

"I wonder if she is bluffing..." said Eve suspiciously.

"Why would she lie about something like this? There's no harm in trying, even if it isn't the way to find him," Sven reasoned.

Eve shrugged in agreement, and typed her final reply. _Thanks a lot. I have to go now, see you._ Kyoko replied quickly, with _kk, byeeee! xoxo_

Eve rolled her eyes, turned off the computer, and turned to Sven.

"What should we do?" she asked.

Sven grinned. "Whatever you wanna do, I guess."

Eve sighed and looked at the floor. Sven stayed silent too. "I'm worried about him."

"Let's go then."

Fifteen minutes later, they were driving through the mountain pass, a full moon directly overhead. Sven turned left as they cleared the mountains, and they both kept their eyes open for a driveway. Finally, they found it.

"...Typical," sighed Eve, shaking her head at the little wooden sign with the face of a cat painted on it.

"Take it as confirmation," said Sven.

"Oh, that makes sense."

They reached the top of the driveway, and Sven turned off the car engine. They were both immersed in partial darkness, save for the full moon overhead. There didn't appear to be any lights on inside the house which they could hardly see.

Sven got out and walked around the front of thecar to open Eve's door for her. As he did, she caught whiff of the horribly familiar smell, not of blood, but of pine. The very same smell that had lingered around Train's nearly-dead body when she had found him in the alleyway. She froze.

"Eve? What's up?" Sven asked, concerned.

Eve put a finger to her lips to tell him to be quiet. "It's the same smell," she whispered. "I could smell it around Train's body when we found him."

"What smell? Blood?" Sven whispered back, his eyes suddenly wide.

Eve shook her head. "No, but that doesn't mean anything." She got out of the car and silently walked towards the front door.

"What is it, then?"

Eve paused, her hand on the door handle. "Pine. Sap, I think."

Sven raised an eyebrow in the darkness, and walked up to join Eve as she opened the door.

The room inside was dark, and all the curtains seemed to be drawn. They stepped inside, their ears and eyes straining for any sign of life (or, as much as they hated the thought of it, used-to-be-life).

"There's something not right about this place," Eve whispered. As if on cue, the door slammed behind them, and Eve felt what seemed to be four long claws come to rest on each shoulder, and someone's coarse breath down her neck. The smell of pine sap filled Eve's nostrils so much that she could hardly breathe. There was someone there, and it definitely wasn't Train.

"Yeah... you're right. There's someone else in here, right Eve?" Sven replied. Eve said nothing. "Uh, Eve? Oh! I found the light switch."

The lights flickered on, and Sven froze at the sight of the person/thing/not-Train standing behind Eve. "Let her go!" he yelled, as he gained his composure and pulled out a gun, having not brought his attaché case.

"As you wish," said an unnaturally pleasant female voice, and the claws disappeared from Eve's shoulder. The owner of said voice walked around in front of her and sat on the back of the couch, facing them. Eve looked at the woman's hands. She was wearing gloves with four long black claws on each. It looked like there used to be five on each hand, but the thumb claws appeared to be snapped off.

"Who are you?" Sven demanded, his gun still pointed at her.

She grinned maliciously, her eyes sparkling with something that wasn't quite alive. "Who am I? Well, my name is Kichiko Suzakana. Who are _you_ delightful people? Why have you come here tonight?"

"That is not relevant. Why are _you_ here?" said Eve coldly, causing Sven to shudder at the iciness of her voice. It was evident that this 'Kichiko Suzakana' couldn't be trusted.

"Hmph. I assume you are familiar with Train Heartnet, am I correct?" Sven and Eve remained silent. "I'll take that as a yes. Well, I came here tonight to deliver a message."

"What kind of message?" said Eve in the same icy voice.

"'_Please' _would help, but I guess I just came to deliver a very important message of..." Kichiko examined her broken claw briefly, then looked up, her red eyes sparking evilly. "...Why, a message of _death. _But unfortunately he isn't here. What a shame..."

Eve gasped, and Sven growled, "It was you, wasn't it? You're the one that nearly killed Train!"

Kichiko laughed an unpleasant, ringing laugh. "Sure was! I gather from this that he's still alive after all. Pity, I hoped that I had succeeded in killing him, but some rat interfered."

"Well, you failed in killing him!" yelled Eve. "He is much stronger than you! You had no right to do that to him!"

Sven nodded furiously in agreement. "_Why _are you trying to kill him, anyway?"

Kichiko ignored him. Her features turned to stone, and she walked towards Eve until her face was less than an inch away from her own. Eve stood her ground, glaring furiously into the cold, red eyes, and trying to breathe through the strong smell of pine. She suddenly understood.

"You're a Taoist, aren't you?" she breathed.

Kichiko smiled. "Yes. And _you_, my dear, are the one who saved Black Cat from dying a painful death. Though, I doubt he didn't suffer. That was quite a wound I gave him, after all."

She straightened up and turned around, walking over to the window and peeking through the curtain. "Well, I suppose this just means that you two will have to suffer the fate meant for Train. And, when he returns, I'll kill him, too!"

"You wouldn't dare," growled Sven.

"Oh, I would," she purred, turning around. "And I think I'll start with the little girl."

Without a moment's hesitation, she pounced, claws first.

* * *

**A/N: **I'm sorry! This is so late! I promised it would be done ages ago, but I guess I've been busy and distracted. I've also been watching OTHER ANIME and reading OTHER MANGA! *EPIC GASP!*

But I still love Black Cat very much. *Huggles Train*

There was some stuff I wanted to say, but I've forgotten it. *Head desk*

By the way, Chapter Five probably won't be up for a while, but it WILL arrive soon! This story has a long way to go, and I'm not giving up on it, kay! I get a two week break from school in a couple of weeks, so I'll be able to get tons of work done then! :D

And OMG YAY MOAR REVIEWS! THANKS GUYS! :D

**DarkAngel555 -** Yay! I've been working on her, but it really varies... I'm glad you liked the chapter, though! And I'm glad you like my portrayal of Train! I don't care if I get the other characters wrong, as long as I get Train right xD ...But that wouldn't be very good, would it? I did think the ditching was very like him, though. I thought, "How can I make it seem really like Train? I know! He can run away! He certainly makes a hobbie of it in the Anime!"  
Sugar + Darkness + Story Writing = Epic Win. I actually ate about six fejoas and two nectarines while writing this chapter. Well, the most part of it that I finished today. It was light when I started writing, then it got dark by the time I was finished and I couldn't see D:  
I always lose sleep. I have insomniac tendencies sometimes... xD

**trainsgirl13** - I'm glad you did! I guess everyone just likes seeing Train struggle or something...? I'm slightly masochistic myself. I like seeing characters in pain :D  
I think I'm like him, too. For one, I love milk, and I'm apparently like a cat. It might be why I have no problems portraying him...  
Ahahaha, yes. I do that a lot. "Hello random character!" "Goodbye random character!" :D

**Aeon Rune - **Yes, Train is a very naughty boy, isn't he? xD  
I'm glad you liked it! :3

**catdompteuse** - I'm glad you think so, now I'm all happy ^^ ...If it's possible for me to be happier then I already am, because I always feel happy when I manage to finish a chapter :D  
Hmm, I don't think much more is explained in this chapter, but in the NEXT chapter, it definitely will be. I already knew where I wanted to end this chapter, and I didn't want to make it too much longer, since it's already pretty long.  
And I was late for my cue! I'm sorry, I'm often right on time D:

**Fairytale Warrior - ***Opens the door* There you go! :D  
Glad you like it! ^^  
I figured that he would like the mountains because he loves high places. He's always on the roof. And even though he hides away, people STILL manage to find him. Oh well, I guess Train's stalker count is destined to go up and up and up...

Well, that's about it for today! :D

Once again, feel free to review *hint hint* and ask questions about things you think need better explaining, and I'll either include an explanation in the story if I think it's necessary, or able to be slipped in, or answer you via this little space at the bottom of the chapter, kay? :3

Sayounara!

- Silver


	5. The Cat that Came Clean

**Playing the Hero**

_**Chapter Five – The Cat that Came Clean**_

Kichiko threw herself towards Eve without hesitation, stretching her claws out in the direction of those large, pink eyes.

Eve, however, was quick to parry Kichiko's preliminary attack by blocking the claws with a nano-blade, and grabbing her other arm with a hair-hand.

Her eyes widening in shock, Kichiko turned her attention to the hair-hand which had a tight grip on her arm. "What the hell _is_ this?"she exclaimed, sinking the claws of both of her hands into the hand, which formed back into hair instantly. She leapt backwards onto the couch, and as Sven took aim with his handgun, lunged into the air, hitting the ceiling and clinging to it with some sort of clear, thick substance on her hands and feet. The smell of pine sap washed over Eve, as did a wave of realisation.

"So, what are you, brat? A Taoist?" growled Kichiko, glaring ice shards at Eve.

"And just how do you know about Taoists?" Sven yelled, taking aim with his gun again.

"I am not a Taoist. You are the Taoist," Eve said quietly, staring up at the said Taoist from behind her long fringe.

"Oh, very good," she, as Sven yelled, "You've gotta be kidding me!"

"Look at her hands and feet," Eve instructed. "It's pine sap. It was in the alley when we found Train."

As if testing, Sven pulled the trigger on his handgun. The bullet sank into a wall of sap, and Sven groaned loudly. "You have _got_ to be kidding me…" he repeated hopelessly.

"Change of plans, then," Kichiko said brightly, and without warning, dropped down from the ceiling, and threw a big lump of sticky sap in Sven's direction. It wrapped itself around his wrists, completely covered the gun, and hardened, constricting Sven's hand and disabling the use of the gun, which, let's face it, was pretty useless anyway.

Without losing a second in between attacks (despite that long-winded description, because action goes twenty percent slower in this world!), Kichiko shot an array of small, sharp sap crystals in Eve's general direction, most of which she managed to ward off by quickly forming a nanoshield, and some of which grazed her arms.

"Eve!" Sven called out, sitting on the floor, having been weighed down by the… what would you call it? Sap-cuffs? Sap hand-prison? Random sap thing which constricts Sven's movement?

Kichiko, who looked thoroughly put-out and bewildered by Eve's morphing powers, flexed her clawed fingers as she scowled. "Is there anything you _can't_ do?" she asked hopefully.

"If there was, I would not tell you."

"Of course you wouldn't. Nothing's _ever_ that easy, is it?" Kichiko groaned, suddenly taking on the personality of a stubborn child. She sighed, "oh well, I guess I have no choice…" She held out her hand in front of her, from which a pinecone seemed to grow out of her palm.

Before Eve could retaliate in any way (because it was bound to be something bad), there was a large smash, a gunshot, and the pinecone flew out of Kichiko's hand and towards Eve, who reflexively caught it before she was hit in the face.

Kichiko frowned at her empty hand. "Aww."

Eve looked towards the originator the smash and gunshot. There, perched on the windowsill (surrounded by smashed glass). Sat one very naughty kitty, holding his prized gun pointed towards Kichiko's outstretched hand.

"Train! About god dam time! Where have you been? Why did you run away? _What the hell has been going on!_" Sven demanded.

However, as expected, Train ignored him, and turned to Eve. "Princess, drop that pinecone, quickly!" Train instructed, and Eve looked down at it in her hand. It was glowing blue. Of course, because nothing's normal anymore; not even a simple freaking pinecone.

And before she could send the command to her fingers to let go of the glowing pinecone, she disappeared with a faint 'pop', and the pinecone fell to the floor.

"Eve!" Sven yelled, while Train shouted "Princess!" and jumped down from the windowsill.

"Damn you, Black Cat, you always have to interfere!"pouted Kichiko indignantly, still with the rather childish attitude she had assumed earlier.

Train spun around and pointed Hades at her face. "Where did she go?" he demanded. "Tell me!"

Kichiko sighed, examining the claw on her left forefinger. "I'm not gonna tell you. Find out for yourself," she drawled, looking pointedly towards the pinecone. Train spared it a glance, and in the split second that he did, Kichiko raised the claw she was inspecting up at the back of her jaw, at the fleshy point between her neck and the joint, just below her ear. "I'm going home." Before Train even realised what she was doing, she thrust her hand forward, piercing the flesh, then completely disappearing, in exactly the same manner as Eve, leaving behind nothing but a splatter of blood across the wall.

"Suicide?" said Sven in a hushed voice, as he pulled his hands free from the sticky sap which melted away with the disappearance of its controller.

"No," said Train, "I don't think that's the case. Who disappears when they die? Seriously?"

"Well in any case, we need to figure out where Eve is and you need to explain what the hell has been going on!"Sven domineered, with a dark undertone to his voice.

"Well, you know, I couldn't have expected you to show up at my house, but I would have expected you to last a little longer than _that_, geez," Train teased, leaping over the back of the couch into a sitting position. "But I guess that sounds fair, and I owe you an explanation for running away and so on and so forth."

"You bet you do," Sven said darkly, collapsing onto a nearby armchair.

So Train began his explanation. "Where to start? You see, soon after ditching you guys after the Eden incident, I travelled around a bit, ate a badly cooked octopus steak in Jipangu, and met Miss Kichiko Suzakana while disposing of it out the window."

"Octopus steak? That exists?"

"Apparently. Not sure if it was real octopus, though, it tasted a bit like squid. Anyway, she attacks me, and she's been after me for the past three months for god knows what reason. Then about a month ago, I got this place, and she didn't bother me for a while, and then finally when I discover that you guys live nearby, she sends me a note telling me to meet her in an alley near the place where you guys live, and she attacks me," Train explained lazily.

"But how is it that you survived for so long being chased by her, then suddenly when you fight in that alley, she nearly kills you?" Sven inquired, leaning forward in his chair.

"Well, when I get there, she reveals the fact that she's a Taoist with an incredibly strange power, and nearly kills me."

"You know, you're right, she does have a pretty strange power…"

"However," Train continued. "I question her origin."

"That's a complex sentence for you. What do you mean?"

"I'm going to ignore that remark, but did you notice her _attire_?" Train lowered his voice dramatically.

Sven paused. "Well, I noticed that it was strange."

"That's because," Train dropped his voice to little more than a whisper, "They're Itairikan!"

"What, like from the other continent? Taoist clothes?" Sven questioned bluntly.

"Yes! And get this: When I asked if her claws were from nanotechnology, she asked what the hell nanotech is!" breathed Train enthusiastically.

"Well, not many people know…"

"And she had no idea who the Apostles of the Stars were!"

"Once again, not many people did…"

"_And she'd never drunk milk from a bottle!_"

"Holy crap! Are you serious?" exclaimed Sven, sitting bolt upright in his chair.

"Yeah!" Train confirmed breathlessly.

"So you think she's from the past?"

"Yeah!"

"And you think she's from Itairika?"

"Yeah!"

"You're an idiot."

"Yeah! Wait, no!"

Sven sighed again, slumping in his chair. Train got up and walked over to the dropped pinecone on the floor. "What other explanation is there, though?" he said quietly.

"What do you mean?" Sven groaned.

"Think about it; when Kichiko stabbed herself she should have died. But she didn't, she disappeared, the same as how the Princess disappeared while holding the pinecone. I think that the reason she didn't die is because if you're from the past, you _can't_ die in the future. And she said 'I'm going home'. The pinecone is probably a device which would have taken her back to wherever she was from, had she been able to use it," Train hypothesised, quite seriously.

"Yeah…" Sven agreed. "You could be right."

"Damn it!" Train punched the floorboards. "This is exactly why I ran away from that hospital! So that I wouldn't have to get you guys involved again!"

"This again?" Sven sighed. "Isn't that a little selfish of you? If you hadn't of run, then _this_ might not have happened! We wouldn't have had come looking for you at all!"

"Maybe not, but what if something worse had happened?" Train argued insistently.

Sven stood up. "What if something worse had happened to _you_? You were a few damn _minutes_ away from dying in that alleyway when Eve found you, so there would have been nothing stopping it from happening again tonight if we hadn't showed up first!"he shouted

"Well that would be _my_ problem, wouldn't it?"Train retorted.

"For the last time, Train! Stop acting as if there aren't people who god damn _care_ about you!" Sven said through gritted teeth, glaring at Train, before sighing, sitting down again, and pulling out a cigarette.

The silence hung in the air for a few minutes, while Train sat on the floor, fingering his waist where he could feel the thick bandages under his clothing. He turned and glared at the pinecone.

"That's it, then," he sighed. "We'll have to go and save the princess from the wicked witch, right?"

* * *

Eve evaluated her surroundings carefully before opening her eyes. She could feel the cold, hard ground under her back, and a pressing feeling all around her, though it seemed to be neither substance nor force. She could hear absolutely nothing, and her ears felt slightly clogged, as did her nose, which meant she couldn't smell anything, either. It was as if the air had put on weight. It was cold, very cold.

Finally, she opened her eyes. There was nothing but white above her. Thick, white, air. She sat up, and looked at the ground, which was faintly green and grassy, but obscured by the white, foggy air. She stood up, and discovered that the fog was only about waist-high. Nevertheless, the only thing Eve could see, for miles around, was a flat landscape, covered in the heavy white fog. She looked up. The sky was white. Cloudy, perhaps? Or was it more of the mystery mist? Was it even the sky at all?

Out of nowhere, an agonised cry pierced the icy silence, and Eve spun around to see a man writhing on the ground, apparently in great pain. Even the thick mist parted to make room for the hysterical man. He flipped onto his back, bringing into plain view the gaping hole through his stomach. Eve recoiled slightly.

"Well, Eve? What are you waiting for?" She froze. She knew that voice, feared it, and was glad to never have to hear it again. But apparently that was not the case. "Finish him off!"

She turned around slowly, and had her suspicions confirmed. Torneo Rudman was standing behind her, a cigar hanging out of his lopsided mouth.

"N-no!" she yelled at him. "You are supposed to be dead!"

"What are you on about, girlie?" growled Rudman. "Kill him already!"

"I will not do that!" Eve yelled defiantly. Rudman scowled and strode over, slapping Eve hard. Somehow, it didn't hurt her at all, but the force of it made her stumble backwards.

"Don't talk back! You are the demon! The demon hunts the prey! You don't have a choice, you're nothing but a weapon!"

Eve opened her mouth to retaliate, but then stopped. There was something off. She looked back at the man writhing on the ground. Blood was pouring everywhere, but she could not smell it, any of it. Nor could she smell the usually putrid smoke pouring from Rudman's cigar. Nor did the slap hurt her. It was just a twisted illusion.

As soon as she came to this conclusion, Rudman, the man and all the blood, turned stark white, and melded back into the soup of fog. Eve's heart was pounding at a thousand miles a minute, where was she, why was she here, and what was the deal with the fog? And the questions, why so many questions?

_Am I dreaming?_ she thought to herself. _Is that why I don't feel pain… or smell anything?_

"There you are, Eve," said a tinkling voice. Eve spun around again, and found herself face to face with someone who she knew for a fact wasn't real, was only a nightmare; Adam, straight from the hell they called 'Eden'.

"You are not real!" she screamed at him. He frowned.

"What do you mean? Come, this place is so plain. Let's go somewhere more fun," he said in his smooth, icy voice, holding out his hand. When Eve shook her head furiously, he only grabbed her wrist. "Come on! What are you waiting for? Don't you want to have fun? You don't want to make me upset, do you?"

"Let go of me!" she said through gritted teeth, transforming her arm into the nanoslicer, and cutting through Adam's arm as if it were fog, because that's exactly what it was.

Eve stumbled back, closing her eyes tight. _If this is just a dream, then why can I hardly breathe?_

"Princess, drop that pinecone, quickly!"

Eve's eyes flew open. Train was standing in front of her, pointing to her hand, which she was clutching a pinecone in. The pinecone started to glow blue, and as soon as she made to drop it, the pinecone and Train both faded into mist. That was it! The pinecone! So did that mean it wasn't a dream? Or had she been knocked into unconsciousness by whatever strange blue-glowing power the pinecone had?

"Here." She turned. Sven was standing next to her holding out a strawberry ice cream. "It's ice cream." Eve reached out to take it, but as soon as her fingers made contact with the cone, it faded into mist, as did Sven.

"Stop it!" she yelled into the ubiquitous fog. "Stop playing games!"

The sound of shrill laughter rang through the dense air, and Eve turned around yet again, to see Kichiko standing over a dark mass about ten metres away, laughing her head off. She looked closely through the fog at the mass she was standing over, and quickly realised what it was; Train. She glared up at Kichiko, not really caring whether she was the real one or not.

"This is your entire fault!" she yelled, and began to run towards her. As she drew closer, Kichiko looked up and winked at her, before she, too, faded into mist, but instead of settling down flatly, the reformed mist rushed towards Eve, hitting her full on. It was like someone was pressing a pillow to her face; she couldn't breathe or see. She closed her eyes, waiting for it to stop, but it didn't, it continued, as if there was a large electric fan blowing all of the mist right a her

She gasped for breath like a fish out of water, growing light-headed, losing track of which way was up, and the white quickly faded to black.

* * *

**A/N: **That was a lot more trouble than it should have been. -_- Seriously, it took a lot of procrastination and self-motivation to even start it. Mostly because I was dreading the action scene at the beginning, does it seem stiff? Yeah, sorry, Eve has so many different nuances when she fights that I have no idea what to do. Nano nano nano weapons. That works, right?

I got into it, though. The chapter was supposed to end after Train's explanation, but due to my laziness for the action scene, it was too short, so I added in that other stuff. I hope it's not too cheesy...

Now for the good points; I actually managed to write all of this in one go. I don't think I've done that for any other chapter. Then again, due to my determination to get this awkward chapter out of the way, I stayed up all night on my bedroom floor writing it. I was on the floor because I didn't want to fall asleep. Heh...

And also, you may have noticed my strange vocabulary slipping out a few words I wouldn't normally use. Ubiquitous, for example. It means pretty much the same thing as omnipresent. Then _why didn't I use that!_ (Ubiquitous actually makes more sense than Omnipresent, that's why.)

I am so totally rambling! I'm going to answer my reviews now! I've gotten a lot of new ones! Thank you all very much!

**trainsgirl13 – **I'm glad you feel that way! I thought it was very characteristic of Kyoko to have absolutely no sense of severity. I like her, but she's not the brightest bulb in the box, so I thought it would be funny for her to accidentally be the one to find Train xD  
Thanks a lot!

**osorezanaurevoir – **Aw, really? That makes me so happy :'3  
Don't worry, long reviews are good! Short reviews are, too! I guess I just like reviews… REVIEWS! :D  
And yes, I'm going to reply in detail.  
Chapter one: I actually found that a little hard to write, because I can't really imagine Train wounded too seriously, but my original idea for the story was that Eve would stumble upon Train nearly dead in an alley. I'm so masochistic. My fangirly-ness comes out most prominently when injury is involved :3  
Chapter two: I don't really like using OC's in fanfics either, but I couldn't think of anyone who would go against Train after everything that happened. Kichiko is, indeed, an interesting character. She even interests me, because I really can't figure her out, and I created her! And there was a reason that I put the quote from the end of the anime in the first chapter; "a stray cat always needs a doorstep to curl up on." ^^  
Chapter three: Hmm, maybe because it's such a Train thing to do? I've gotten a lot of compliments on my portrayal of Train… then again, it might be because I'm so obsessed with Black Cat that I've become more like him! :O  
…That would just be creepy. And I'm glad you like Sven's head-smashing moment! :D  
Chapter four: I'm sorry! It was so slow to write, I had a bit of a block, which is probably why things happened a bit fast. I would have done a chapter with Train on his own, but I didn't really have any ideas on what could happen, so it would be a bit boring. I was also a bit lazy on the proofreading on this (I usually read it through about 5 times, but I only read this chapter through once in a slight desperation to get it out of the way), so there were a few mistakes and things happening too fast D:  
And your review is nowhere near as long as my reply… I need to learn when to shut up… xD  
Thanks for the epic review! :3

**Fairytale Warrior** – Yay for the realm of good reading! xD  
Of course he is, he's an _anime_ character! They always attract trouble! xD  
*Opens the door again* :D  
I'm glad you think so! I thought it would be, which is obviously why I put it in ^^

**Hikari Mizu Rin - **Let me start of by saying that I like your username ^^ I like Japanese things! Light Water Rin, right? If Rin means something, I don't know it... xD  
I'm really glad you like it, and I seriously hope that this chapter is entertaining enough! Thank you!

**Osuari13 **- You're very welcome, though I should be the one saying thank you :]

**SaiyanXDii** - I feel totally proud! I made someone dance around happily! Yaay! The answer to your question is within the story, though I don't think it's quite what you were looking for... it isn't what I was looking for, either. -_-  
But, I'm happy to say; here, have an update!

**midnightcrescent27 - ***Updates* Yaay!

**14AmyChan** - Greetings! I'm glad you found it, DA buddy! :D

**FireFlies666** - YOOO! Yeah, I tend to inject every character I write for with a special Peri-Serum so I can control them better. *Nods*  
YOU MAY NOT WANT MULTIPLE ME, BUT MULTIPLE ME WOULD HELP ME GET THIS DONE A LOT FASTER! Then my precious ear wouldn't be stabbed 17 times with a skewer! Though, if I happen to not finish this, would you stab the left ear? It might help! :D

Aaaand I'm done. *Dies*  
You may not think so, but these reviews are so numerous to reply to... BUT IT WOULD BE RUDE NOT TO!

I'd really appreciate opinions about Kichiko, and her personality disorder (yes, it is a disorder, not my lack of characterisation!)

- Silver

*Passes out* (Wait, I still have to post this on DeviantART... -_-")


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